Five youths drown in Tapi river

Five youths drowned in Tapi river on Tuesday evening after they went to take bath in the river, fire brigade officials said Wednesday. Their bodies were fished out by fire brigade officials Wednesday morning and handed over to the family members after post-mortem. The five have been identified as Pratik Bhayani (21), Hardik Mistry (21), […]

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On Tuesday night, the parents of the five youths went to Vaghecha village and inquired with the temple priest who confirmed about the boys having come to the temple.

Five youths drowned in Tapi river on Tuesday evening after they went to take bath in the river, fire brigade officials said Wednesday. Their bodies were fished out by fire brigade officials Wednesday morning and handed over to the family members after post-mortem. The five have been identified as Pratik Bhayani (21), Hardik Mistry (21), Utpal Sakhiya (20), Brijesh Sabhaya (22) and Bhargav Katheriya (22) — all residents of Varachha area. They left home on two bikes and reached the Mahadev temple at Vaghecha village in Bardoli taluka of Surat district on Tuesday afternoon.

After prayers in the temple, they went for a swim in the Tapi river. They went deep into the river and started drowning. Nobody heard their cries for help, said sources. Manji Bhayani, Pratik’s father, called him on his cellphone when he did not return home till late, and found it switched off. He then called up one of his friends, Chirag, and inquired about his son. Chirag told him that Pratik had gone with four others to Mahadev temple in Vaghecha village. Manji also called the parents of the other four youths and they, too, said that their sons had not returned.

On Tuesday night, the parents of the five youths went to Vaghecha village and inquired with the temple priest who confirmed about the boys having come to the temple. The family members also found two motorbikes on which they had travelled. The temple priest suggested that they might have gone for a swim and when Bhayani and other parents went to the river, they found their clothes on the bank. The parents reported their sons missing at the nearby Kadod police chowky after they failed to find them in the river, as it was too dark. The police informed Bardoli fire station about the incident.

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On Wednesday morning, the Bardoli fire brigade staff reached Vaghecha village.With the help of local swimmers, they searched and fished out the bodies of all the five youths. Police took possession of the dead bodies which were later sent to a government hospital at Kadod for post-mortem. Police sources said that Pratik Bhayani, Utpal Sakhiya and Hardik Mistry were studying B.Com. at a private college at Varachha.

Bardoli fire brigade officer P B Gadhvi said, “We got a call about five youths drowning late Tuesday, but as it was dark and we could not find them. So, we carried out the search operation in the morning. It seems that the youths were no experts in swimming and went deep into the river and so they drowned.”

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